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Tension Pneumocephalus: a Case Report of a Rare Complication After Spinal Surgery

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Abstract

After lumbar spinal surgery, symptomatic pneumocephalus is extremely rare, and is usually associated with a dural tear. We report a case of symptomatic compressive pneumocephalus following a degenerative lumbar spine surgery (decompression and pedicle screw fixation), without visible dural tear. The patient underwent emergency surgery by burr hole right frontal craniotomy on the fourth day after surgery and subsequent spinal reoperation with dural tear repair 2 weeks after de first surgery. A high degree of clinical suspicion is needed for timely diagnosis and treatment for timely diagnosis and treatment. When a confusion status and headache develop after surgery, CT scanning is essential to make the diagnosis of pneumocephalus. When the diagnosis is complete, conservative treatment is the choice for most of patients. In our case, tension pneumocephalus behaved like a space-occupying lesion threatening patients’ life.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Servicio de Cirugía Ortopédica y Traumatología, Hospital Universitario de Getafe, Carretera de Toledo, Km 12.500, 28905, Madrid, Spain

    Diego Garcia-Garcia, Alejandro Gomez-Rice, Iria Vázquez-Vecilla & Mariano López-Franco

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  1. Diego Garcia-Garcia
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  2. Alejandro Gomez-Rice
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  3. Iria Vázquez-Vecilla
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  4. Mariano López-Franco
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Diego García, Iria Vázquez, Alejandro Gómez-Rice, and Mariano López-Franco. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Diego García and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Diego Garcia-Garcia.

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Garcia-Garcia, D., Gomez-Rice, A., Vázquez-Vecilla, I. et al. Tension Pneumocephalus: a Case Report of a Rare Complication After Spinal Surgery. SN Compr. Clin. Med. 3, 1610–1614 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42399-021-00864-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42399-021-00864-w

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